Richard get your facts straight. I knew late last week that refugees would be allowed to come to the United States, and not have to go to Cuba. It is an outright lie to say that I told Anthony he would never get any refugees out. I am still confused as to why Anthony is talking to you consistently this week, but not having the simple courtesy to contact me after I had all these appointments set up for him that he agreed to the week before we left for Macedonia. Also, what happened to your fax number so you can see Congressman Wexler's letter dated April 15th that dealt purely with Ana, her sister and niece. I used up a lot of favors getting that letter before we left, and it was not for my benefit. It was for Ana.
Anyway, isn't Ana with Anthony because Ana's sister was supposed to testify before Congress. As far as pictures, Anthony brought a video camera and took hours and hours of pictures at the camps. He said all those pictures would be put on his web site. He even had me take some video pictures of him while dealing with the refugees. The video camera was a major thing in his life there. Why was that? My motivation for bringing a tiny still pocket camera was to take some pictures (less than 50 between the camps, the TV station and downtown) for my personal scrapbook. How does that compare to me wanting to get publicity? I never tried to get any publicity for myself, just for Anthony and the general orphan situation.
Remember, I introduced Anthony to Ana. If I am such a bad guy, why did I do that. I had also laid groundwork with other media organizations that if Avdulla's press credentials were not accepted at the camps because he was the owner of a Albanian tv station, that we had backup access to the camps.
I went to Macedonia to see first hand what was going on at the camps, to do some good for Ana's sister, and for the refugees. I even found a second year Kosovo medical student who spoke english at the camp, and with Ana's jacket and Tony's camera, smuggled her out of the camp. If I have such a tough heart, why would I do that? It is also an outright lie that I ever asked anyone to take a picture of me with crying children. I have a couple pictures with some smiling children! I do however have a still picture of Tony and Ana being videotaped at their direction with crying children. I thought that was inappropriate, and if anyone wants to post that still picture I would forward them a copy of it. Also, there were not that many crying children all over these camps. They looked at us, and especially Tony's video camera with its little screen as a neat toy, and that brought big smiles to their faces. I was not as emotional as Anthony and Ana, and that is being held against me by the two of them. It will also end up costing me what I thought would be a lifelong friendship with them, but people are of different personalities. I had seen horrific sites in Haiti, and other countries, and that probably tempered my emotional personality. I am very disappointed that instead of the two of them being grateful for me putting them together, I am now the bad guy? Also, many of the adult refugees looked at my cell phone in my pocket with wide eyes, and I let a number of them call relatives outside the camps.
Ana's husband, Avdulla, let both Anthony and me stay for free at his house. Avdulla insisted on that. Also, Anthony did not pay all my expenses on the ground, and I did not ask him to. Who paid. Believe it or not, Avdulla paid for almost all the meals even though Anthony and I both tried to on a number of occasions. Avdulla is the real hero in all this. He works like a dog, and has the leadership skills to get many quality individuals to volunteer their time at TV-ERA. There was a lot of bad blood in the television control room when they were editing the day's video one day, when they saw Ana was handing out hundred dollar bills to different refugee families. The employees felt that Ana should have directed some of those monies to them. What Anthony did not tell you is that I started last week aggressively soliciting monies through some charitable foundations I know, to give grants to TV-ERA. TV-ERA is financially very strapped, and I felt very grateful to Avdulla and his staff while I was there. Thus, I started the process while still in Macedonia, to try and get some grants for TV-ERA, and have continued it now that I have returned.
One last thought, perhaps Ana is mad that I developed a friendship with Avdulla. They had a few fights when I was there, and Ana took off for Albania for three days to look for another sister (who she found) without having the courtesy of telling Avdulla, Anthony or me where she was going. |
